Trump and His Supporters Blame Everybody But Him For His Troubles

For a campaign, with supporters in tow that entered the general election season with all kinds of confidence (perhaps, arrogance) about Donald Trump’s chances, things have changed dramatically. As we get down to the final two weeks, Trump’s campaign is in free-fall. He is currently polling at an average of 40% in the Real Clear Politics average, and Hillary Clinton is at 86% in the FiveThirtyEight election forecast.

When campaigns are losing, they look for somebody to blame. It’s a natural instinct, but Trump and his supporters take it to a whole new level. Like President Obama supporters, nothing is ever Donald Trump’s fault. No matter how little the issue is, it is the fault of some outside source, whatever it may be.

The media – This is the favorite target for Trump, his staff, surrogates, and supporters. In fairness, the media as a whole is going to favor Democrats over Republicans. Hillary’s “first woman President” is a narrative the media picked up soon after she lost the nomination to Barack Obama in 2008. The problem is, Donald Trump routinely hands the media a sword and says, “Cut my head off, please!” The penchant he has for never allowing a personal slight go unanswered has proven to me a media disaster, time and time again. Any Republican candidate would face a hostile press. The difference is Trump invites the scrutiny and then he and his supporters whine about it.

#NeverTrump – First, let’s get something straight about the #NeverTrump movement. Contrary to what some say, the movement was never about stopping Trump. Sure, some sub-movements carried the banner looking for ways to challenge Trump, but for the most part, it’s very simple. It means people are not going to vote for Trump, period. When Trump was busy wrapping up the nomination, Trump, and his surrogates spent most time telling #NeverTrump people they weren’t needed to beat Hillary. They were told every day of their supposed “irrelevance.” Now? We’re all told it would be our fault if Trump loses. The people who were screaming, “Burn it all down!” are now wondering individuals who are #NeverTrump are not “backing the GOP nominee.” This is a group that couldn’t stop Trump from winning the GOP primary, but have managed to obtain power enough to keep him from winning the general election.

Republicans – Donald Trump has spent more time since June 2015, attacking other Republicans almost as much as he has Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately for Trump, the chickens have come home to roost. And he doesn’t like it. As Trump does with other critics, he can’t allow to let go, what he perceives to be a personal slight. When the news broke of Donald Trump’s “grab them by the p**sy” comments, Paul Ryan weighed in saying, “I am sickened by what I heard today. Women are to be championed and revered, not objectified.” He also disinvited Trump from what was to be a joint campaign appearance together in Wisconsin. Trump, instead of dealing with his nonsense, unleashed a small tweet storm aimed directly at the Speaker of The House:

Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee

Sooner or later the time comes to take responsibility. Trump does nothing but blather about “winning” like a spray-tanned version of Charlie Sheen but when he starts losing, he blames everybody but himself. His supporters do the same thing.